La Plata, MD – It was a complex, multi-layered undertaking, requiring months of rigorous searching, culling and paring down, robbing Peter to pay Paul, until at last a consensus was reluctantly reached and the Charles County Fiscal Year 2016 Budget came into being Tuesday, June 8.
“Congratulations commissioners,” Charles County Finance Director David Eicholtz told the board. “You’ve just given birth to your fiscal year 2016 budget.”
For the citizens of Charles County, however, who just two weeks ago railed in a public hearing that their property tax rate was among the highest in the state of Maryland, the passing of the budget meant something else.
They took their placards with them as they departed, after the Charles County Commissioners opted to raise taxes once again, by .05 percent per $100 of assessed value.
The board also voted to take the controversial transfer tax to public hearing June 24.
Once again, county leaders found themselves between a rock and a hard place, reluctant to cut services but needing to balance the budget.
Commissioner President Pater Murphy expressed relief and the hope that with the budget now behind them, the county could move forward on other issues.
The budget did some good things, providing a $1,500 bonus to county employees, not a step increase, but as Murphy noted, “It was something.”
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the inspection and review enterprise fund; the recreation enterprise fund; the landfill enterprise fund; and water and sewer enterprise fund; as they did the environmental services enterprise fund and the watershed protection and restoration, raising the environmental service fee for the former and decreasing the storm water mediation fee in the latter.
When it came to raising the property tax one half of one percent, however, District 2 Commissioner Debra Davis expressed her opposition, a vote echoed by District 4 Commissioner Bobby Rucci. The 3-2 vote in favor of the increase prompted a flurry of catcalls from the audience, bringing a rebuke from Murphy.
“I’m going to ask those of you here in attendance, we ask that you allow us to hear the votes and allow everyone to voice their opinion,” Murphy said. “Allow us please the opportunity to express our opinion and hold verbal comments to yourself.”
The board unanimously approved fees and charges for county government services, then things moved into the capital improvement program where they got interesting.
The Capital Improvement Plan part of the budget sparked debate about road construction. Funding for Phase III of the Western Parkway began the discussion.
Rucci suggested the county amend CIP to add the Western Parkway funding.
“The citizens of Charles County need the Western Parkway to alleviate traffic,” Rucci said. “We owe it to our citizens to alleviate traffic congestion. We need to bring some corporate businesses into the county, and make it a little more easier to get here.”
“There is no doubt that all of us here intend to see the Western Parkway completed,” countered Commissioner Vice President Ken Robinson. “But until we have a memorandum of understanding and an agreement to work on funding the portion of that, we need to tread carefully. We have fully funded Phase II and we have preliminary planning funds for Phase III.”
“If we don’t start now, we’re going to be further behind,” Rucci said. “We can roll pretty quickly if were all behind it.”
“Time and time again we hear from our citizens that traffic congestion is among their most important concerns,” said Davis. “They ask us to keep taxes low, which we’re ignoring, but to address traffic congestion and have long-term sustainable plans. Now we are defunding the last section of this Western Parkway, which sends a bad message. We will and have unfunded roads. That makes me insecure even though the majority of citizens have expressed they are for the road.”
“It’s important to the county to have the Western Parkway completed,” interjected District 3 Commissioner Amanda Stewart. “I’m grateful to have the support of my colleagues to fund Phase II. I think we’re doing the commissioners a disservice saying we are not committed to building the road. I think that’s really unfair.
“I came into this job with a lot of information,” she added. “We need to move forward when we have agreed in writing. We need the road. We want the road. We need to move forward and have this in writing. All I want in order to support the full funding is to have an agreement in writing. We can’t do business with a handshake.”
“The road needs to be done either way,” Rucci responded. “We do everything backwards. If you build it they will come.”
“I would say one of the things I feel very strongly about is having an agreement, very clear in writing,” said Murphy. “Lacking that, I’m not comfortable going forward with this. I can’t support this without that written agreement.”
A secondary motion to add funding for Phase III of the Western Parkway failed by a 3-2 vote.
Following that vote Davis moved for funding for the study for the Cross County Connector be put back in.
Moving into whether or not to impose a transfer tax to Charles County residents selling their homes, Eicholtz stressed, “Everyone is not paying it it’s a small segment of the population.”
The proposal to establish the transfer tax rate at one half of one percent passed by a 3-2 margin and the commissioners voted to hold a public hearing on the proposal June 24 at 6 p.m.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com
